Within the scope of financial accounts statistics[1], the Croatian National Bank currently releases only data on stocks of financial assets and liabilities of the entire economy and individual institutional sectors – non-financial corporations, households, general government and financial sector, in a certain period. Financial net worth of the economy or any part thereof is calculated as the difference between the stocks of its financial assets (e.g. loans and deposits granted, investments in securities and holdings) and the stocks of its financial liabilities (e.g. loans and deposits received, inflows from the issued securities), with the total financial liabilities including debt liabilities, as well as the estimated financial worth of capital.
The financial assets of the Croatian economy stood at HRK 2,742bn at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 (Figure 1), up by HRK 39.0bn in the quarter concerned and by HRK 214.0bn in 2021. The financial liabilities of the Croatian economy reached HRK 2,887bn, up by HRK 35.3bn in the quarter concerned and by HRK 180.4bn in the last year. In terms of GDP, the financial assets of the Croatian economy amounted to 637% of the annual GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, down by 10.6 percentage points in the quarter concerned and down by 31.4 percentage points in the period of one year. The financial liabilities of the Croatian economy decreased by 12.6 percentage points in the quarter concerned and by 45.0 percentage points in the period of one year, accounting for 670% of the annual GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.
These quarterly developments continue the trend of decrease of both assets and liabilities of the Croatian economy in terms of GDP, which has started in the second quarter of 2021 due to a slower increase in their value compared to the growth of quarterly GDP.
The total financial assets of households stood at HRK 586bn at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 (Figure 2), which is an increase of 2.3% from the end of the previous quarter. In 2021, the financial assets of households increased by HRK 49.1bn. The financial liabilities of households held steady at HRK 156bn, increasing slightly (by 0.2%) from the end of the previous quarter. As a result, the financial net worth of the household sector amounted to HRK 430bn or 3.1% more than at the end of the previous quarter, continuing the trend of a gradual, albeit steady increase in the financial net worth of this sector.
The total financial assets of non-financial corporations stood at HRK 772bn at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 (Figure 3), growing by 0.9% from the end of the previous quarter. The financial liabilities of non-financial corporations amounted to HRK 1,166bn or 0.8% more than at the end of the previous quarter. In line with such developments, the financial net worth of the non-financial corporations sector decreased to –HRK 394bn, down 0.7% from the end of the previous quarter.
Statistical time series:
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Financial accounts statistics shows the indicators of stocks, transactions, valuation adjustments and other changes in financial assets and liabilities in the economy, classified by sectors and by financial instruments, on the basis of the currently available data sources. These include the CNB's monetary statistics and external statistics, statistical reports of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency, annual reports of non-financial corporations collected by the Financial Agency, reports on general government equity holdings in corporations by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets and Restructuring and Sale Centre, data on general government debt by the Ministry of Finance and the CNB, as well as the Zagreb Stock Exchange trading reports. ↑
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Apart from households, the households sector also includes non-profit institutions serving households sector (associations of citizens, etc.). ↑